Remasters and remakes have been a part of the game industry for decades, but in the past few console generations they have become a noticeable trend. It feels like there’s always something being polished up and re-released for modern systems, withResident Evil 4’sremakebeing a prominent upcoming example. It’s becoming clear now that even games from the 7th and 8th generations are fair game for some sort of re-release, with varying amounts of polish going into them. Titles likeThe Last of Us Part 1andDemon’s Souls' remake also blend the definition of remasters and remakes, containing both minor gameplay refinements and total presentation overhauls.
Among the remakes and remasters coming to modern systems, theFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeseries stands out.Final Fantasy 7 Remakeopts for a reimagining instead of a traditional remake or remaster. It’s an unusual approach, but one that fans have been hoping to see nonetheless. While they wait forFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthto come out, the community will be able to keep itself entertained withCrisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion. This re-release is similar to theDemon’s Soulsremake, but as even more changes were made to it, it may be the truest remake gamers have seen in quite some time.
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Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion Has Overhauled Crisis Core
At first glance,Crisis Core: FF7 Reunionseems to hew close to its PSP original. It’s easy to make that mistake when compared to theFinal Fantasy 7 Remaketrilogy, but asReunion’s developers stress, no part ofCrisis Corehas gone untouched. Every asset in the game has been replaced, and major characters such as Zack, Cloud, Aerith, and Sephiroth have been remade to such a degree that they are comparable to scaled-downFF7 Remakeassets. It’s not clear whether any models have been shared in less detailed forms with theRemake, but characters, the Buster Sword, and summons have all been touched up to resemble their latest counterparts.
On top of the visuals, the soundtrack has also been rearranged. Many background music tracks have been redone by Crisis Core’s original composer, Takeharu Nishimoto. To keep thegame in line with theFF7 Remaketrilogy, voice work has also been redone for certain major characters. Zack is a noticeable example, given that his performance is somewhat contested afterReunion’s first trailer. Notably, the Japanese version of Genesis remains voiced by Gackt due to his script apparently being the same, even though the English voice actor Oliver Quinn has been replaced by Shaun Conde.Crisis Core: Reunionwill also go the extra mile and dub all text-based cutscenes fromCrisis Core, and seemingly some field NPCs as well.
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Crisis Core: Reunion Modernizes Its Combat
A total refresh of the presentation is all well and good, but one question that many fans had was whetherReunionwould touch upCrisis Core’s combatat all. There were some murmurings by hardcore fans that the footage looked be different, but Square Enix did not give a firm answer for a little while. It was confirmed that full camera control was being added and that characters movements and animations would receive updates, but otherwise the UI just looked like a polished version of the old game. All that was left was the unclear statement that game systems had been “improved,” and that various skip features had been added.
Fortunately, interviews with Yoshinori Kitase, Tetsuya Nomura, and Mariko Sato confirmed that combat would feel very different. Basic attacks, special abilities, and magic will now flow together more in continual combos, and Zack has access to something likeCloud’s Punisher Mode fromFinal Fantasy 7 Remake. Magic and abilities can now be selected from shortcuts like inFF7 RemakeandKingdom Hearts, and battle tempo has been improved by allowing Digital Mind Wave roulette cutscenes to be skipped. Additionally, limit breaks and the totally reanimated summons can now be stocked once produced by the D.M.W., which will vastly improve their usefulness. It’s a good thing that Hard Mode is returning and is available right away, as veterans may feel too strong in this remade combat system.
Most of Crisis Core Has Changed, But The Story Remains
The promise of touching up every single part ofCrisis Corehas been more-or-less upheld.Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunioncan now be recognized as a different, and hopefully better, game fromCrisis Core: Final Fantasy 7. The one thing that remains completely unchanged is the original script. Even though new actors are playing some roles, thecore plot and everything inCrisis Coreremains identical. The original ending has been confirmed to still be present, and the game will not have any new missions. There are plenty of missions already, and some details like the positions of treasure chests have been improved, so that side of the game should remain as content-rich as it was.
As a result, fan discussion has now evolved into a debate over whether there has been any new content injected into the game. According to interviews, no new story has been added for the benefit ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, but a counterpoint states that the secret ending is technically separate from the main story. Nothing ever came about from the secret endings ofCrisis CoreandDirge of Cerberus, so they can be safely replaced if Square Enix wants. Even though the intent behindCrisis Core: Reunionis to ensure allRemakeplayers are familiar with the increasingly important Zack Fair, there should be room for one extra teaser forFF7 Rebirth. Fans will have to wait and see just how committed to enhanced faithfulnessCrisis Core: Reunionis when it comes out later this year.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunionreleases winter 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
